We Care for Children, Families and Communities
Residential Treatment Services
Louisiana United Methodist Children and Family Services maintains three residential treatment centers capable of accommodating 126 children. These three children’s homes are located at the boot strap, heel, and toe of Louisiana’s boot-shaped geography.
Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston cares for 84 children and adolescents, Methodist Children’s Home of Greater New Orleans in Mandeville cares for 18 children, and Methodist Children’s Home of Southwest Louisiana in Sulphur provides care for 24 children.
These three children’s homes provide the most intensive, comprehensive, holistic residential services available in Louisiana.
Life Skills Training Center
The Life Skills Training Center serves our children as well as children who live in group homes and foster homes in a twelve-parish region of Northeast Louisiana. The Life Skills Training Center provides the opportunity for youth, ages 15-18 years, to learn the life skills necessary to transition successfully into adult independence.
This is vital work because children who grow up in out-of-home placements do not have opportunities to learn the basic life skills that children learn growing in intact families. Growing up “in the system” makes for a very difficult transition into young adulthood. In fact, 35% of foster children who age out of care at 18 are homeless before their 19th birthday.
This is because many foster children age out of care on their 18th birthday without a full set of skills for independence. Nor do they have the adult resources that the majority of 18 year olds have when they leave their family nest. Our Life Skills Training Center offers these youth the opportunity to return for assistance after completion of the program to “brush up” on their skills. Our staff members continue as trusted resources into the participants’ young adulthood.
The Family Counseling Center
The Family Counseling Center offers individual counseling, family counseling and court mediation services to the public. Contracts exist with State of Louisiana judicial districts. Family Counseling Center is located on campus, facing South Vienna (Hwy 167). Phone: (318) 255-5753
The Family Plus Program
Our Family Plus Program offers assessment services, brief in-home counseling, and educational seminars to churches and other groups. There are 24 Family Plus sites in Louisiana.
Methodist Foster Care
Methodist Foster Care is actively recruiting, training, certifying and supporting a state-wide network of Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) families who provide family-based treatment in specially trained foster parent homes, for foster children with significant needs.
Therapeutic Foster Care is a family-based service which allows a child to live in a home with trained TFC parents while receiving intensive treatment from community-based providers of mental health services for their emotional and behavioral needs. TFC gives a child a supportive family setting until the natural family can be reunited or a permanent placement can be arranged for the child.
Professional Support Services
Clinical Services Department
Clinical staff help assess and treat the cognitive, emotional, and relational needs of our residents and their families. These therapists meet regularly with the youth, providing individual, group counseling, and case management. They are either licensed professional counselors or licensed social workers or working toward licensure. Two family therapists work with the residents and their families to help them improve their relationships and prepare for the youth’s return home when this is possible. A therapist funded by a Crime Victims Assistance grant assists youth in working through traumatization from experience of abuse in their pasts. Clinical Interns from local universities assist the staff clinicians by providing additional counseling services to residents. The caring professionals in the Clinical Services Department work closely with other departments by forming treatment teams for the living units and by providing support and consultation to staff. Clinicians in the Family Counseling Center and the Family Plus program are also included in the Clinical Services Department.
Educational Services
The Lorraine Howard Educational Center on the grounds of Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home provides quality educational experiences on our campus to residents and offers a GED program to qualified youth with the potential to achieve a graduate equivalency diploma. “Howard School” is licensed by the Louisiana Department of Education as an alternative school. It is the only alternative school in Louisiana to be designated a “Top Gains” school by Louisiana Department of Education in 2012. In addition to educating residents of Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home, Howard School is the only alternative school in Lincoln Parish and provides educational experiences to children from the community whose behaviors or needs cannot be met in public schools.
Nursing Services
Medical and Health Services are provided to all residents by staff nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians and psychiatrists. Referrals are made to specialists.
Recreational Services
The Recreational Services Department provides on-campus and off-campus recreational opportunities for all residents to develop physical and emotional well-being. A comprehensive Summer program is offered adding value to the Summer season.
Pastoral Care
Spiritual Care is provided through worship services, bible study, music and individual pastoral counseling sessions with the Chaplain.
Experiential Programs
The Outdoor Wilderness Learning (OWL) Center is an 800-acre, wilderness facility located north of Ruston, Louisiana, with an equine-assisted psychotherapy program, camping, team challenge course, bike trails, fishing and many other activities. The OWL Center is located at 1523 Highway 563, Dubach, Louisiana 71235 Phone: 318-777-3460 Fax: 318-777-9553
Licenses and Accreditations
Accredited by EAGLE Accredited by COA Member Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations
